Hosiery boarding machine



Feb. 18, 1964 J. R. GANN HosIERY BOARDING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 6, 1961 James R, Gaim 76m if 1%@ TTU/@NE Y6 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

TTENEYS J. R. GANN HOSIERY BOARDING MACHINE .fama R. Gaim BY Feb. 18, 1964 Filed Jan. e, 1961 United States Patent O 3,121,520 HOSIERY BOARDING MACHINE James R. Gann, Durham, N.C., assigner to Gann Machine Shop, Durham, N.C., a corporation of North Carolina- Filed Jan. 6, 1961, Ser. No. 81,150 1 Claim. (Cl. 223-46) This invention relates to a hosiery boarding machine capable of improving the quality and speed of processing the product over conventionally used boarding methods.

Many textile articles, and particularly hosiery, are presently boarded by placing the same on shaped mandrels or boarding forms (called boards) which are usually hollow and supplied with steam under pressure. Each boarding form is conventionally provided with openings therethrough so that the steam in the interior thereof can escape to permeate and heat the hosiery article and thus set the yarn. According to the present invention, the articles are boarded on a substantially flat, solid forming board and are passed :through a heated zone wherein radiant heat is directed from gas-iired burners toward the articles from gas burners adjacent and on opposite sides of the articles. According to this apparatus, much higher temperatures are employed than are usually obtained with the use of steam and the articles cannot be touched or handled as they leave the heating zone. :The present invention provides means for directing blasts of cool air on to the `articles as they leave the heating zone to thus quench the same rapidly and render them easy and practical to handle without an unduly long cooling period. By this apparatus applicant is able to board hosiery at a much higher rate of speed than was heretofore possible, and the resulting product is of higher quality in that it is iiuther and truer in color. The apparatus is particularly useful and beneficial in boarding stretch nylon hosiery or hosiery having a stretch yarn and also a high bulking yarn in its fabric.

The apparatus is so constructed that gas-fired burners are used to produce the radiant heat, and wherein a fuel and air mixture is passed through a foraminous ceramic panel and ignited on the outer face of the panel. The panel soon becomes incandescent and is an efficient radiator of heat in the infra-red portion of the spectrum. Preferably a hood borders the panel and extends toward the path of movement of the yarticles to more or less confine the radiated heat to the desired heating zone. The hood also functions to at least temporarily confine the products of combustion in the heat-ing Zone and to produce an atmosphere of such product through which the boarded articles are passed. It is believed that the provision of this atmosphere may have some effect on the dramatic results obtained by applicants apparatus.

It is therfore an object of this invention to provide a novel apparatus of `boarding hosiery which produces new and superior results.

it is a further object of the invention -to provide novel apparatus for boarding hosiery which is simple and economical to construct yet highly efficient and reliable in operation.

[Further and additional objects and advantages will become apparent to those skilled in the art as this description proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FElIG. l is a schematic side elevational View of a machine embodying the present invention;

FiG. 2 is a top plan View of the machine shown in FIG. l; and,

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary enlarged transverse, sectional View, taken along the line 3--3 of FIG. l.

The machine ofthe present invention, as schematically 3,121,520 Patented Feb. 18, 1964 lCe illustrated in FIG. 1, comprises a suitable framework 2 upon which a horizontal conveyor chain 4 is mounted. `The chain 4 is trained over an adjustable idler sprocket wheel 6 and over a driven sprocket wheel 8. An adjustable speed gear motor 1f) drives the sprocket Wheel 8 through a motor pinion l2, a chain 14, and a driven sprocket 16, rigidly mounted on the shaft carrying the sprocket wheel 8.

A plurality of forming boards 18 (see also FIG. 3) are mounted on the conveyor chain 4, preferably by being bolted to opposite sides thereof and in longitudinally spaced relation therealong, as shown.

Mounted on the framework 2 are a plurality of gas burners 2li. The structure of the burners themselves is not a part of the present invention but the use of such a burner in this combination is novel. Each of the burners (FIG. 3) comprises a casting or housing 22, to which a fuel conduit 24 is connected to admit gas to the interior of the casting. As the gas liows linto the interior of the casting it aspirates air through openings 26 to support combustion. The gas passes through the casting to a forward chamber portion 2S and then through a foraminous or perforated ceramic panel 30. Suitable pilot burners (not shown) may be provided if desired, to ignite the fuel upon starting the apparatus. ln any event, the fuel may be ignited in any suitable manner on the outer face by the panels 3d where it bur-ns in a. multiplicity of small, almost invisible flames. The heat of combustion causes the panels 30 to become incandescently hot and they radiate their heat toward the center of the machine. Preferably, a hood 32 is provided for each burner and is a generally tubular open-ended hood structure bordering the panels 3d and diverging slightly outwardly to a position closely adjacent the path of movement of the forming boards 18. As shown, a plurality of burners 20 are provided on each side of the machine, there being live burners on each side in the illustrated embodiment. 4It is to be understood, however, that the showing is merely illustrative and that any number of burners of any desired size may be provided, and in fact, all of the heat may be supplied by a single burner on each side of the path of movement of the boarded articles. Furthermore, it is contemplated that the burners may be mounted on a sub- .frame which is adjustable on the main frame 2, so that their distance from `the path of movement of .the boarded articles may be changed. It is fur-ther contemplated that suitable thermostatic devices be provided (not shown), preferably within the hoods 32, to maintain a substantia-lly uniform desired temperature in the heating zone. Vilha-t space between the burners 20 and through which the boarded articles move will be referred to as a first or heating zone.

It is also preferred that an exhaust hood 34 be mounted on the frame 2 over the heating zone to collect products of combustion and to direct them to a suitable exhaust liue (not shown).

.It will be obvious that the hoods 32 not only function to confine the radiant heat form the burners to a direction extending toward the boarded articles but that they also, in conjunction with the exhaust hood 34, serve to at least temporarily corrline the products of combustion from the burners in the heating zone to create therein an atmosphere consisting primarily of such hot products of combustion.

Referring again to FIG. l, the arrows indicate that the upper run ofthe conveyor moves from left to right of the ligure to carry the boarded :articles through the heating Zone, generally indicated 'by36. When the boarded articles have passed through the heating Zone, they pass between a pair of opposed plenum chambers 38, located on opposite sides of the path of movement of the articles.

a The plenum chambers 38 are provided with a plurality of llouvres or openings 40 through the inner walls thereof and are further connected through suitable air conduits 42 to a blower 44. IThe blower 44 takes ambient air, which is relatively cool compared to the temperature in the heating zone, and blows a relatively large volume of that air into plenum chambers 33 from which it exhausts through louvres 40 to direct blasts of cool air on the hot boarded articles passing through the space between the chambers 38, which will be referred to hereafter as -a second or cooling zone 46. After the boarded articles have passed through the cooling zone they are `sufficiently cool to be handled and removed from the boards 18.

'The motor 10 was described as a variable speed motor and it is obvious that the speed of travel of the conveyor 4 may thus be changed to regulate the time of exposure of the yarticles tothe heat in heating zone 36, since hosiery made of different types of yarn require slightly different temperature treatments when being boarded.

Applicant has found that the apparatus of this invention is capable of satisfactorily boarding hosiery at a much greater speed than any heretofore known conventionaliapparatus and the product of the process is superior in quality and appearance to steam-boarded hosiery. For example, white Or-lon 4socks knitted from stretch yarn and of substantial lbulk were boarded on the present machine and comparedv to identical socks boarded in the conventional manner on the hol-low steam boards previously described. 'The steam-boarded articles were reasonably soft but their exterior surfaces were fairly smooth. On the other hand, the identical socks boarded on the machine described herein were of much Whiter color and iluer body, having aline utf covering'the entire outer surface thereof, which is a desirable characteristic of such articles.

The 'forming boards y18 are not hollow and are preferably formed of flat sheet metal, for example, aluminum, having a polished surface constituting a highly efficient heat reilector. When the boarded articles are passed through the heating zone, some of the radiant heat from the burner 2,0 passesthrough the articles themselves, and impinges on .theboards The highly reflective boards used in this machine reflecty that heat outwardly where most of it is absorbed by the material of the` articles, thus increasing the eiciency of the apparatus. It is believed thatV thisfeature may have a substantial effect on the superiority of the product.

Llt is also believed that the high temperature in the heating zone 36 and the sudden quenching with cool air may have the eifect of splitting or rupturing many of the iaments to produce the high ilutl` and light bodyvimparted to the boarded articles.

it has also been found that articles boarded according to the present invention hold their shape well without the use of cardboard inserts.

While a single specic embodiment of the invention has been shown and described herein, it is to be understood that the same is merely illustrative of the invention, which is'not limited thereto. The invention contemplates other embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claim. Y

I claim:

Apparatus for boarding hosiery comprising: conveyor means movable along a predetermined path; hosiery boards mounted `on said conve-yor and spaced therealong; gas-red radiant heating means stationarily mounted adjacent said conveyor and in opposed relation on opposite sides of said path; each of said heating means including perforated panels of material that becomes incandesnt when heated each arranged parallel to said path; gas-fired burners arranged to heat said panels and direct products of combustion therethrough; hood means bordering said panels and extending toward and closely adjacent said path; said hood means extending a substantial distance along said path to denne an elongated heating Zone for heating articles on said boards to a high setting temperature and serving to substantially confine products of combustion in said heating zone whereby articles being heated are encompassed thereby; and cooling means downstream from said heating Zone for cooling articles on said boards.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

